Apparatus for cleaning the faces of traveling molds.



M. P. CHAPLIN.

APPARATUS FOBCLEANING THE FACES OF TRAVEUNG MOLDS.

APPLICATION FILED 0:05. 19m.

1,1 8%,%% l Patented May 23, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

M. P. CHAPLIN.

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING THE'FACESOF TRAVELING MOLDS.

APPLICATION FILED oc.5. 19-13.

L1 @Mm. Patented May23,1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Fig.8. Fig.

Witnesses. lnve-ntm'.

UNITED STATES raann'r OFFICE.

MERLE P. CHAPLCIN, OF FAIRFIELD, MAINE, ASSIGNOR TO KEYES- FIBRE COMPANY, OF FAIRFIELD, MAINE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING THE FACES OF TRAVELING MOLDS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patent ed May 23, 1916.

Application filed December 5, 1913. Serial No. 804,930.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that-I, MERLE P. CHAPLIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fairfield county of Somerset, State. of

Maine, have, invented an Improvement in L. Keyes, September 29, 1903. The apparatus disclosed in that patent comprises a series of traveling molds, each provided with a receiving or forming face and a relatively movable compressing face. These molds are supported at the ends of arms extending radially from a shaft mounted in journals upon the top of a pulp vat, and are adapted to dip into ,the pulp during a portion of each revolution. Each mold face is provided with pneumatic mechanism, whereby air pressure may be introduced through the mold. face or a suction created therethrough. In operation the receiving mold faces are passed through the liquid pulp in the vat and a coating thereof is sucked up against the said receiving face. Upon its emergence from the liquid pulp, the compressing face is forced against the layer of pulp, the mold faces thus serving to mold between them an article having the contour of the faces of said molds. After having been subjected to compression the article is transferred to the compressing member by the operation of suitable pneumatic mechanism and is finally transferred by another pneumatically operated mechanism from said compressing member to a drying mechanism. In the operation of machines of this type, particles of pulp often adhere to the faces of the mold'and necessitate the frequent cleaning of the mold face. It will be obvious that the greater amount of objectionable material will adhere to the face of the receiving mold which passes through the pulp vat, and that therefore it will be necessary to clean the receiving face more often than the compression face. Heretofore it has been customary to clean the faces of such molds by means ofa jet from a hose directed by the .hand of an operator against the face of the molds at the proper time. In washing molds in this manner there is a considerable amount of irregularity in the cleansing of the parts and frequently an unnecessary amount of water is discharged into the pulp, causing it to be so thinned that an inadequate amount is sucked by the receiving mold during its passage through the vat, thus producing thinner articles than are desired.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide means for cleaning the mold members without using an excess of water whlich would injure the consistency of the pu p.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for cleaning the mold faces of a series in succession and upon predetermined revolutions.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby each compression mold face will be Washed upon a predetermined revolution but less frequently than its companion receiving mold face.

Other objects of the invention will more fully appear from the description and the drawings, and will be more particularly pointed out in the following claims.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a diagrammatic plan view of a-machine for making articles from pulp embodying my invention, certain parts of the mechanism being omitted to illustrate more clearly the mechanism for cleaning the mold faces. Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the same, a portion of the frame and side wall of the pulp vat being broken away to show the cleaning mechanism for the mold faces. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the mechanism for regulating the action of the fluid jets. Fig. 4 is a front view of the same, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of said mechanism.

The machine shown in the drawings comprises a rectangular frame having a front side 1 and a rear side 2, preferably constructed of cast iron, and connected by ends 3 and 4, also of iron. The frame is adapted to rest upon the floor of the mill and preferably has a pulp vat 5 depending therefrom beneath the level of the floor. The mechanism for molding pulp articles is mounted upon the top of said frame.

The molding mechanism is of a type similar to that disclosedin the prior patents of Martin L. Keyes, 710,023, granted September 29, 1903, 759,616 granted May 10, 1904, 788,138 granted April 25, 1905, 903,869 granted Nov. 17, 1908, and Reissue Patent 11,911 granted Jan. 12, 1909, and does not therefore need a detailed description. It comprises a hollow shaft or sleeve 6 supported in suitable bearings upon the top of the side frame upon which a carrier having a series of mold members is rotatably mounted. The rotatable mold carrier is provided with a large gear 7 which is driven by any suitable driving mechanism, not shown, through a smaller gear 8 supported upon bearings upon the top of the frame as in the machines disclosed in the patents aforesaid.

Each receiving mold member is adapted to dip into the liquid pulp in the vat during its revolution, suction being applied during its traverse through the pulp to cause a layer of pulp to adhere to said receiving face. Upon emergence from the pulp the compression mold face is pressed firmly against its cooperating receiving mold face to mold the article desired. At a further point in the revolution the molded article is released from the received mold face and is transferred to the compression mold face from which it is subsequently removed by suitable pickoff devices, such as those illustrated in the patents aforesaid.

The pickoff devices are not shown in the accompanying drawings, but the shaft 9 therefor is illustrated in the cross section in Fig. l to show its use in connection with the cleaning mechanism hereinafter described. This shaft is supported upon' a bracket 10 secured to the side 2 of the main frame and is driven by a suitable beveled gear 11 which meshes with a gear not shown, carried upon a driven shaft 12 which passes through the sleeve 6. The shaft 9 is provided with a gear 13 which meshes with a suitable pinion 14 to operate the cleaning mechanism.

The cleaning mechanism comprises a pipe 15 leading from any suitable source of fluid supply to jets 1617 through the fields of which the receiving mold members 18 and the compressing mold members 19 respectively pass: The jets are controlled by valves 20 and 21 which are intermittently operated to discharge water or other suitable cleaning fluid upon the mold members as they pass through their respective fields. These jets are located preferably below the upper surface of the frame and are adapted to play upon the mold members just prior to the time the receiving mold faces enter the liquid pulp.

the molds but of different frequency. In.

the preferred embodiment of the invention disclosed herein this is accomplished through the medium of two bell crank levers one of which is actuated to open the valve 20 to wash a receiving mold face upon every revolution of the mold carrier or such other number of predetermined revolutions as may be desired, while the other bell crank lever is actuated in unison with the first to open the valve 21' to clean a compression face every third time its companion receiving face is washed, or such other ratio as may be found to be practicable. r

The mechanism for operating the valve 20 which controls the jet directed across the path of the receiving mold faces comprises a valve stem 22 which is adjustably attached by nuts 23-24 to the slotted end of a horizontal arm 25 of a bell crank lever, which is pivotally supported upon a counter shaft 26 mounted in a bracket 27 supported by the side 2 of the main frame. The vertical arm 28 of said bell crank lever is pivotally secured intermediate of its ends, preferably about midway, to a link 29 which is adjustably connected by slot and bolt connections 30 to link 31 which in turn is pivotally connected to the lower end of a Vertical lever 32, the lever 32 being pivoted upon a stud 33 projecting from a suitable bracket 34.

The lever 32 has at its upper end an offset 35 which is adapted to be engaged by a roller'36 carried upon the end of an arm or cam 37 mounted upon the shaft 38 of the pinion 13. An adjustable member or jaw 39 is secured to the upper end of the lever 32, preferably by bolt and slot connection, so that the dwell of the roller 36 in its contact with the lever 32 may be regulated and the time in which the valve 26 is opened thereby controlled.

The ratio between the gearing for driving the rotating mold members and that which operates the valve 26 is such that said valve will be opened to wash each receiving mold face upon a predetermined number of passages through the pulp. The

machine illustrated in the present drawings is provided with 10 molds and the ratio between the gearing upon the main shaft and that upon the counter shaft which operates the jet 20 is such that said jet will be opened to wash each receiving mold face upon the eleventh passage through its field.

of each of the ten receiving mold faces in turn before any are washeda second time.

It will be obvious from the construction above described that upon each revolution of the arm or cam 37 the end and jaw 39 of the lever 32 will be engaged by the roller 36 and the bell crank lever actuated thereby raising the valve stem 22 and valve 20 to open saidjet and thereby wash a receiving mold face.

Inasmuch as it is unnnecessary and undesirable to wash the compression mold faces as frequently as the receiving mold faces, a controller is provided which will cause the actuation of the jet which is directed toward the path of the compression mold face upon a predetermined but less frequent number of revolutions.

The mechanism for producing this operation comprises a valve stem 40 which is attached to the valve 21 and which is secured at its upper end by adjustable nuts 41-42 to the slotted end of the horizontal arm 43 of a bell crank lever which is pivoted upon a stud 44 carried by the bracket 27. The vertical arm 45 of the bell crank lever is adapted to be engaged and actuated at intervals by a wide pawl 46 carried upon the'upper end of the vertical arm 28 of the bell crank lever first described. I

Inasmuch as the arm 28 of said bell crank lever which actuates the jet to Wash the receiving mold faces is actuated upon each reciprocation of the lever 32 it is necessary that the pawl 46 be withheld from contact with the free end of the lever 45 during certain revolutions and to produce this function a rotating member is provided whichis adapted normally to support said pawl above the end of the arm 45 of the bell cranklever but which has recesses to permit the pawl 46 to engage said bell crank arm 45 at certain intervals. This rotating member comprises a pair of toothed disks 50 and 51 which are mounted upon a shaft 52 journaled in a bearing 53 at the top of the bracket 27, said disks being preferably se- 1 cured together by means of a dowel pin 54 so that they rotate in unison. I

The disk 50 is provided with a series of teeth corresponding to the number of receiving mold members and one of these teeth is engaged by a pawl 57 carried upon the end of the lever 28, upon each reciprocation of the arm of the bell crank lever 28 to frequency with which it is desired to wash the compression mold faces, in the machine shown in the drawing there being one third as many recesses in the disk 51 as there are teeth upon the disk 50. The wide pawl 46 normally rests upon the periphery of the disk 51 and when'the latter is rotated sufficiently the end of this pawl drops into a recess in the disk 51 so that it is in position to engage the end of the vertical arm 45 of the bell crank lever, which operates the jet which is directed against a compression mold face, and upon the forward reciprocation of the lever 28 actuates said bell crank lever and thereby opens the valve 21 to wash a mold face.

The end of the bell crank arm 45 is preferably provided with an adjustable wear plate 58 which provides for the extension of the bell crank lever 45 to the periphery of the rotating disk 51 and also serves to prevent the wearing away of the end of said lever.

In the operation of the device above described it will be obvious that the jet 16 may be operated to wash the mold members successively and to rewash each member upon a predetermined number of revolutions. In the'apparatus illustrated each mold face is washed upon every ninth revolution, the first mold facebeing washed upon the first revolution, the ninth upon the second and so on until the ten mold faces are successively washed, whereupon the first mold face is again washed. A compression mold face is washed simultaneously with each third receiving mold face and in the following order :The first mold face is washed upon the first revolution, the eighth during the fourth revolution, the fifth duringthe seventh, the second during the tenth, the ninth during the thirteenth, the sixth during the sixteenth, the third during the nineteenth, the'tenth during the twenty-second, the seventh during the twenty-fifth, the

fourth during the twenty-eighth and the first again revolution. y

It is to be understood that th're'tatin disk 51 may be provided with; any suitable number of recesses according to the frequency with which it is desired to clean the compression faces.

It is to be understood that the mechanism shown in the drawing is illustrative only and that the treatment of the respec tive mold faces may be accomplished in other ways and by other means. and in such suitable predetermined intervals as may be found desirable by the character of the mold or the material operated upon.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In an apparatus of the class described washed during the thirty-first having a revolving series of molds, means for treating said molds in succession upon different revolutions whereby a mold is treated upon a predetermined revolution and a different mold is treated upon a predetermined subsequent revolution until all the molds have been treated.

2; In an apparatus of the class described having 'a revolving series of multipart and different revolutions and means for treating the compressing mold members in succession at predetermined but less fre-' quent intervals.

4. In an apparatus .of the class described having a series of molds comprising receiving and compressing members; means for treating the receivlng mold members in succession upon predetermined but different revolutions, and means for treating each compressing mold member simultaneously with its companion receiving mold member upon certain predetermined revolutions;

5. In an apparatus of the class described having a revolving series of molds co1n prising receiving and compressing. members; means for treating the receiving mold members in succession upon predetermined but different revolutions and means for treating each compression mold member simultaneously with its companion receiving mold member upon certain predetermined but greater number of revolutions whereby the receiving mold member will be treated with greater frequency than the compressing mold member.

6. In an apparatus of the class described having a revolving series of multipart molds, means for treating the parts of said molds comprising fluid jets through the fields of which said mold parts pass, means automatically operating to intermittently open the respective jets whereby each like mold part is treated at predetermined regular intervals and each of the companion mold parts is treated at predetermined but different intervals.

7. In a machine having a series of multipart traveling molds, means for cleaning said molds comprising a fluid supply, means for directing said fluid against the face of a mold part and means for causing an intermittent flow of said fluid whereby each 9. In anapparatus of the class described having a series of multipart traveling molds, means for cleaning a mold part, comprising a stationary fluid jet, means for moving a mold part through the field of said jet, and means for operating said jet upon a predetermined passage of the mold to discharge fluid thereupon.

10. In an apparatus of the class described, a series of traveling molds having a plurality of cooperating faces adapted to form therebetween an article, means for supplying material thereto, cleaning mechanism for said faces comprising stationary jets adapted to discharge across the paths of the respective mold faces, and means for independently operating said jets to dischargefluid at predetermined pas-' sages of the'respective mold 'faces through the fields of said jets.

11. In an apparatus for forming articles from pulp, a series of traveling molds, each having a plurality of cooperating faces constructed to form therebetween an article, cleaning mechanism for said mold faces comprisingstationary fluid jets through the fields of which the respective mold faces travel, means for openingsaid jets independently to discharge fluid against'said mold faces at predetermined but different passages of the respective mold faces through the field of said jets and means for regulating the period during which the jets are opened.

12. In a machine for forming articles from paper pulp, a series of traveling molds, each having a plurality of cooperating faces constructed to form therebetween an article, a pulp vat into which one of said faces dips to receive a layer of pulp, means to actuate the same cleaning mech anism for said mold faces comprising stationary fluid jets, through the fields of which the respective mold faces travel, means operating to cause one of the jets to discharge against the receiving mold face at predetermined intervals, and means for causing another jet to discharge against the other mold face at predetermined but less frequent intervals.

18. In a machine 'for" forming articles from paper pulp, a series of traveling molds, each having a plurality of cooperating faces constructed to form therebetween an article, a pulp vat, into which one of said faces dips to receive a layer of pulp, means to actuate the cooperatingmold members, cleaning mechanism for said mold faces, comprising stationary fluid jets, through the fields of which the respective mold faces travel, means operating to cause one of the jets to discharge against a different receiving mold face upon each revolution of the series through the field of said jet until all have been cleaned, and means for causing another jet to discharge against a different compressing mold face upon each third revolution of the series through the field of the last mentioned jet.

14. In an apparatus of the class described, a series of traveling molds having faces adapted to formtherebetween an article, a fluid jet through the field of which a mold face travels, a supply pipe for said jet, a valve in said pipe, a' lever mechanism for operating said valve, and means for automatically operating said lever mechanism at predetermined intervals, whereby the jet will be caused to discharge fiuid'against the face of the mold part at predetermined passages of said mold part through the field of said jet.

15. In an apparatus of the class described, a series of traveling molds having faces adapted to form therebetween an article, a fluid jet through the field of which a mold face travels, a supply pipe for said jet,a valve in said pipe, a lever mechanism adjustably connected to said valve, and means .for automatically operating said lever mechanism at predetermined intervals, whereby the jet will be caused to discharge fluid against the face of the mold part at predetermined passages of said mold part through the field of said jet.

16. In an apparatus of the class described, an intermittently operated jet for cleaning the face of the mold, means for operating said jet comprising a bell crank lever, a pawl adapted to engage the end of said lever, means for reciprocating said pawl, and means for contro ling the engagement of said pawl with said lever, whereby the jet may be intermittently operated to discharge fluid at predetermined intervals.

17. In an apparatus of the class described, having a fluid jet, a valve for controlling said jet, intermittent valve operating mechanism comprising a bell crank lever connected to the valve, a reciprocating pawl for actuating said lever, a rotary member adapted to support said pawl out of 0031- tact wlth said lever, and recesses in said rotary member, whereby the pawl is permitted to engage and actuate the end of said bell crank lever upon dropping into a recess.

18. In an apparatus of the class described, mechanism for operating the jets for washing the receiving and compressing members of a traveling mold comprising fluid jets through the fields of which said mold members pass, valves for operating said jets, a lever adapted to operate one of said valves, a narrow and a wide pawl carried by said lever, a lever for operating the other valve adapted to lie-engaged, by the wide pawl, a rotary member supporting the end of said wide pawl normally out of contact with said lever, a series of recesses on one end of said rotary member adapted to be engaged by the narrow pawl to rotate the same, a series of recesses in the other end of said rotary member whereby the wide pawl may be received in said recesses and permitted to contact with the ends of its cooperating 

